


The Pilot's Love Song

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Foxtrot [73]
Category: Dollhouse, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Crossover, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 16:45:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6292222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the comment_fic prompt: <i>Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, "The Pilot's Love Song".</i> John and Rodney on Atlantis, talking songs. Post-series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Pilot's Love Song

"Why do you always play that song?" Rodney asked. He and John were kicking back in their quarters after a long, hard day of breaking in the newest wave of the Atlantis Expedition, soldiers and scientists alike.  
  
John glanced down at his guitar. "Hm? Oh. Because it's my love song for Atlantis." He strummed the notes again.  
  
"Pretty sure that song is about drugs and almost overdosing," Rodney said. He was too tired to really pay much attention to the report on his datapad. He'd been so glad to be able to come to Atlantis again – they were allowed so infrequently – that he'd hardly slept the night before they left, and then there'd been ten hours of training and now –  
  
"It's all about the lyrics. _The city she loves me_ ," John sang, softly. Alone his singing voice was mediocre at best, but with Songwriter helping him out, his voice was clear and sweet.  
  
"I guess I never listened to the words that closely," Rodney said.  
  
"So listen." And John started the song from the beginning, and Rodney really listened. As a musician himself, he had a good ear for music. Less good of an ear for poetry or lyrics, but he could see why John had chosen this song for Atlantis.  
  
"So you have a love song for Atlantis. Were you the kind of boy who picked a couple's song for every girl he dated?" Rodney hadn't dated that many girls, didn't have many traditions that he's carried through all his relationships.  
  
"I was never that sappy," John said. "What about you? You're a musician too. Don't tell me you never learned a song to woo a woman."  
  
"I might have," Rodney hedged.  
  
"Let me guess. Billy Joel's 'Always a Woman.'"  
  
"It's a good piano song," Rodney protested.  
  
"I know." And John did know, because Pianist was, well, just that. "Did you and Jennifer have a song?"  
  
Rodney snorted. "No, Neither did me and Katie. Did, uh, you ever have a song? For someone you dated?" It was a difficult question, since John hadn't actually dated anyone since he was eighteen.  
  
John shook his head, switched to playing some intricate flamenco-sounding piece. "Nancy wasn't the couple-song type, so no, but more than one soldier chose _Wish You Were Here_. Pink Floyd version, not Incubus version."  
  
"Obviously Pink Floyd." Rodney rolled his eyes. "But if you had to choose a couples song –"  
  
"Some of the imprints have nominated _I've Got You Under My Skin,_ John said, and cracked up, because of course he cracked himself up.  
  
"Not all of your imprints," Rodney said. "Just you."  
  
"Well...this is always a winner," John said, and began to play _Fly Like an Eagle_.  
  
"Yes, for a pilot." Rodney huffed. "A serious choice, John."  
  
John's hands on the guitar stilled. And then he started to play and sing, " _Love of mine, someday you will die –_ "  
  
Rodney threw a pillow at him. "Death Cab For Cutie? I think your pants aren't tight enough and your hair's not long enough and you're generally just not emo enough."  
  
"It's true, though," John said.  
  
"Of course it is. Someday we'll all die."  
  
"I'd follow you into the dark," John said quietly, and Rodney's heart skipped a beat.

Hastily, John continued, "No, not that I'd kill myself if you ever – it's just that we've always had each other's backs, and if we were to go out guns blazing, it'd be side-by-side –"  
  
"Something happier, maybe?"  
  
And John grinned. "You mean, you want me think up a song for _us?_ Because that's different."  
  
"You mean you _have_ thought of a song for us?"  
  
John immediately switched to another chord, and Rodney missed the piano fiercely.  
  
"I have a thing for clever lyrics. I blame my mother. And Joe. And English Teacher."  
  
"Let's hear this chorus," Rodney said, leaning in.  
  
John began to sing.  
  
_If you'll be my star, I'll be your sky  
You can hide underneath me and come out at night  
And when I turn jet black you show off your light  
I live to let you shine_  
  
Rodney's throat closed. "John –"  
  
John smiled at him kept playing, kept singing. Rodney listened to the words and wondered how long John had felt like that about him, if he knew the exact moment he'd fallen in love with Rodney, because for the life of him, Rodney couldn't remember when he'd fallen in love with John. Maybe it was the moment John first saved his life, or the second time, or the third time, or maybe one of those times when no lifesaving was necessary at all, when John listened to what he said and laughed and kept coming back when everyone else would have given up and stayed away.  
  
John sang and played on.  
  
Rodney wondered what he'd ever done to deserve someone like John, and as he listened to the song, he realized John wondered the same about him.  
  
There was no reason for either of them to wonder at all. The song ended, and Rodney reached out, plucked the guitar from John's hands, set it aside carefully, and leaned in to kiss him.  
  
John accepted the kiss eagerly, opening under his mouth like a flower under the sun, and Rodney chased his warmth all the way down to the bed, and they made love until they both saw stars, and in the afterglow, they fell asleep. In the morning, the stars would be gone, but they'd still have each other.  
  
_Just leave me your stardust to remember you by._

**Author's Note:**

> John's song for Rodney: Boats and Birds by Gregory and the Hawk.


End file.
